Twitter users' reviews of movies are kinder than those found on other social networks, but none are good predictors of how a film will fare at the box office.
That's one of the findings from a study of movie-related Tweets, plus posts to IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, by a trio of Princeton students.
Why Watching Movie Tweets Won't …

- More time to write comments - Quite often I write them whilst answering the telephone or performing some other mundane task. I know, I know that I should stop and take the time but then El Reg would be a lot less of a fun place to hang out.

I know that this is not a real excuse but I actually speak French all day and my English is taking a severe hit. I am far more likely to be writing a powerpoint, full of bullet points and very little punctation that I am to be writing any serious piece of grammar.

On top of all that I was a very poor English student, which is obvious really....

Please accept my humblest, most subservient apologies. All hail the El Reg commentards, without them pedantry would lose its attraction.

@ DAN*tastik

We already knew this.

So... we learn that a movie can get the very worst of universially terrible reviews, and yet still be a box-office hit? But we've had three Transformers movies already - what more proof do you need? I have never heard a single statement in defence of those movies, yet they rake in the cash. I think by number three people were just watching out of curious desire to see how Bay manged to insult the audience this time.

Box Office Success

Presumably it only needs to be measured by the number of Twits confirming they watched it - positive or negative - they still bought a ticket.

Of course whether the film is a stinker or not determines things like awards, sequels and what the director will work on next - but plenty of great films earned cult status after failing miserably at the box office.